The Defense Department said Friday that the Navy has exercised a $7.83 million option to have Bingen, Wash.,-based Insitu Inc., provide "operational and maintenance services" for its ScanEagle unmanned aerial systems -- commonly known as a drone aircraft. The option modifies a previously awarded, "firm, fixed-price contract," the agency said.

The company will provide what the Navy described as electro-optical/infrared and midwave-infrared imagery in support of the war in Afghanistan. The services will provided in Bingen, with completion scheduled in January 2014.